Reggaeton
Ringtones

Reggaeton
is a form of dance music which has become popular with Latin American
youth during the late 1990s and has spread to North American and European
audiences during the first few years of the 21st century. Reggaeton
- also spelled Reggaeton and hispanicised as Regueton - blends Jamaican
music influences of reggae and dancehall with those of Latin America,
such as bomba and plena, as well as that of hip hop. The music is combined
with rapping (generally) in Spanish. Reggaeton has
allowed the Spanish Caribbean youth, specifically those of Puerto Rico,
as well as the Latin American and United States Latino communities,
to have a musical genre as a voice. More recently it has become an international
movement with the help of many from New York's Latino and Dark Hip Hop
community.

While it takes influences from hip hop
and dancehall, it would be wrong to define reggaeton as the 'Spanish'-
or 'Latino'- version of either of these genres; reggaeton has its own
specific beat and rhythm, whereas Latino hip hop is simply hip hop sung
by artists of Latino descent. Reggaeton's distinguishing feature is
the Dem Bow beat (alternately spelled Dembow), which originated in a
song by Shabba Ranks in the mid-1990s.

Reggaeton lyrics tend
to be more derived from hip-hop than dancehall. Like hip hop, reggaeton
has caused controversy due to its often explicit lyrics and alleged
exploitation of women.